The King's Chessboard

by David Birch, Devis Grebu (Illustrator)

“Masterfully told.”— School Library Journal  

A great story for children learning mathematical concepts,  The King’s Chessboard  tells the story of a wise man who refuses the king’s reward for completing a favor. When the king insists the man accept a reward, the man proposes a He will take a payment of rice equal to each square on the king’s chessboard—doubling the amount he receives with each day. This quickly empties out the royal coffers. . . .  

A Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies and Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, School, Ancient History, India, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 1988

Reviews

[Debbie W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story to learn from as well as enjoy! I would often read it to my young students to illustrate the concept of doubling. This story takes this math concept to an interesting and mind-boggling level! I recommend this to students (and readers) of all ages!

[Lauren B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this book was such a great classroom discovery! I read The King’s Chessboard for a grad school assignment and immediately realized it was the perfect hook for introducing my 4th graders to multiplicative comparison in math. That standard can be a tricky one, and I’ve never really found an inspiring way to kick it off, until now.

For anyone who hasn’t read it, the story follows a wise man who asks the king for one grain of rice on the first day, two on the second, four on the third, and so on for 64 days. The king, not exactly a math guy, agrees without realizing just how fast that doubling will grow. By the end, he’s basically bankrupted his rice stores. Luckily, the wise man uses the rice to feed hungry villagers, so it all works out in a satisfying, moral-of-the-story kind of way.

My students were so into it. We used the story to talk about how doubling each day is totally different from just adding a few more grains. It gave them such a concrete way to see how multiplicative growth works. Honestly, it would be amazing for a 6th grade lesson on exponents too.

Oh, and if the king had really paid up, he would’ve owed 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains of rice. That’s eighteen quintillion, four hundred forty-six quadrillion, seven hundred forty-four trillion, seventy-three billion, seven hundred nine million, five hundred fifty-one thousand, six hundred and fifteen. Thanks, Google, for that fun fact.

Bottom line: The King’s Chessboard is a surprisingly perfect math read-aloud that makes exponential growth and multiplicative thinking come alive. Five stars from both me and my students!

[Charlotte S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my mom and my favorite books. It's about a king who forces a wise man to receive a reward for a service he did. The wise man does not want to accept the reward, but the king insists. The wise man then agrees to a deal. He will take a 'payment' of rice each day, equal to the square on the king's chessboard. The amount doubles each day, and soon the kingdom is in chaos, transporting all of the rice to the wise man's house. What will happen? Will the king realize his mistake, or will the kingdom crumble over rice? I love chess and recently watched a movie about it called 'Searching for Bobby Fischer.' I loved it! Anyway, this book is amazing and I can't tell you how many times I have read it and loved it! The illustrations are beautiful!
Follow @bronteandwilder on Instagram for more fun book recommendations!

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent story sent in medieval India - a wise man who serves a king is offered a reward for his service, and declining a reward offends the king, who requires him to choose a reward. The wise man, looking at the king's chessboard, makes an interesting request - a grain of rice one day, two the next day, four the next day, eight the next day, etc. - as many days as there are squares on the chessboard. But the king doesn't consider, and doesn't realize, what it means to double anything, even as small as a grain of rice, 63 times - soon the royal granaries are overwhelmed . . . This was fun, as I got to talk about the origins of chess in India and math while also doing history. My kids (ages 6 and 8) seemed to like the story, too!

[Kary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to incorporate in a math lesson!

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has math, chess, and a wise man. All the makings of a good story.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great children’s book. Not only is the story good, but it also incorporates math and a lesson about the problems with being prideful.

[Mallory · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clever story. It can tie into an Indian unit or math (exponents)

[Solange Guillen · Rating 4 out of 5]

“How easy it is for pride to make a fool of anyone, even a king.”

[Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good. Really good. I guess he tricked the King because the King didn't know that he knew there wouldn't be enough rice in the world.

[Sophie Nguyen]

extremely clever little story

[Ashley Moser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story about how pride comes before fall. Would be a fun book to go along with a math activity.

[Mikyla Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated book that teaches the importance of humility and mathematics! It’s such a cute story and the whole family gathered around one by one as I was reading it out loud.

[Congetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to the story by Demi, this books introduces what happens when you double numbers, but also what happens when you are ruled by your pride. I liked the colorful illustrations in this book. My son read this aloud to me.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant little morality tale that enfolds a clever bit of mathematics into its telling. The king of a realm in India insists that a wise man take a reward for his service to the king. The wise man turns it down, but the king insists. The wise man then requests a single grain of rice for the first square of a chessboard. Then he asks the king to double the number of grains of rice for each square on the board each day until he has reached the end of the board in 64 days. A brilliant lesson in humility and exponential growth.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exponents! And a great lesson about kindness being its own best reward. A king wants to repay a wise man for his service but the wise man resists. After much pressure from the king, he agrees to a reward of grains of rice, each day multiplied twice the amount of the day before for as many days as there are squares on a chessboard. This becomes TONS (literally) of rice, and the king realizes his error.

Set in India. Detailed watercolor illustrations. Grades 4 and up and up... Do the math!

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the pictures to help with what was happening in the story. It illustrates well the concept of doubling- very quickly moving into very, very large amounts. It also illustrates the problems of pride- and the concept of swallowing it.

[Nausheen Ukani]

This has always been one of my favorite books, and it's great to see how I can now use it as a future teacher in my own classroom! This is a cute tale about a man who knows how to put his math to use. I would use it to teach the importance of math and more importantly, exponents!

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book and story tells the secret of knowing something about doubling and the power of numbers
this book and story tells the secret of knowing something about doubling and the power of numbers

[Marcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

math
patterns

[Benjamin Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The power of exponential growth.

[DG · Rating 4 out of 5]

A masterfully told story of India and destruction caused by pride.

[Bonnie Pohlig]

Another book to introduce growing patterns.